This invention relates generally to the field of data communication and more specifically to a method and system for communicating data to a wireless device.
The increasing use of wireless devices has led to the demand for fast, effective data communication to and from wireless devices. Wireless devices may be used to communicate data from a company""s central database to a mobile employee. A salesperson may, for example, obtain catalog and supply information from a catalog database, or a repairperson may obtain service order information from a service database. Known methods of communicating data involve using a communication network and a web server. These known methods of communicating data, however, are slow and often prone to failure.
While these approaches have provided improvements over prior approaches, the challenges in the field of data communication have continued to increase with demands for more and better techniques having greater effectiveness. Therefore, a need has arisen for a new method and system for communicating data to a wireless device.
In accordance with the present invention, a method and system for communicating data to a wireless device are provided that substantially eliminate or reduce the disadvantages and problems associated with previously developed systems and methods.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system for communicating data to a wireless device is disclosed. The system includes a database operable to store data. A web server retrieves the data from the database and converts the data to converted data in real-time so as to be interpretable by a wireless device. More specifically, the converted data includes wireless application protocol data.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method for communicating data to a wireless device is disclosed. The method includes receiving data from a database. The received data is converted to converted data in real-time using a converter, and the converter is associated with a web server. The converted data is transmitted to a wireless device that can receive and interpret the converted data. More specifically, the step of converting includes converting the received data to wireless application protocol data, and the step of transmitting includes transmitting the converted data to a wireless application protocol device.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method for converting data is disclosed. The method includes receiving data from a database. The data is converted to converted data in real-time using converter associated with a web server by searching the data for an unacceptable term, wherein a wireless device can not interpret the unacceptable term, and replacing the unacceptable term with an acceptable term associated with the unacceptable term, wherein the wireless device can interpret the acceptable term. The converted data is transmitted. More specifically, the step of converting includes converting the received data to wireless application protocol data.
A technical advantage of the present invention is that it provides users of wireless devices effective real-time access to data from a central database. A web server receives a request from a wireless device and retrieves the requested data from a database. The web server performs real-time conversion to a format accepted by the wireless device, and then transmits the data to the wireless device. The wireless device receives the data and displays the data to the user, allowing the user real-time access to the database.
Other technical advantage are readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims.